EU issues discussed in Bucharest

European Commission vice-president Jyrki Katainen and PM Dacian Ciolos held talks in Bucharest with Romanian citizens.

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Mihai Pelin, 02.09.2016, 13:32

Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos and EU Vice-president for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, Jyrki Katainen, took part in a public talk with Romanian citizens in Bucharest on Thursday. The agenda for talks included hot topics for both the EU and Romania, with a focus on the Investment Plan for Europe, the so-called “Juncker Plan”.

Under the agreement, some 315 billion euros are to be directed to private and public investment projects for a period of three years. As regards long-term investment, Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos says one of Romania’s vulnerabilities in this regard is its inability to stand up to its promises and see its project through. On the other hand, the Romanian official said that the continuity and predictability of ongoing projects are more important than the absorption of EU funds, especially in the health care, education and infrastructure sectors. At the same time, the Prime Minister said the Government plans to build new hospitals.

Dacian Ciolos: “Beyond the income issue, doctors’ salaries and the stability and transparency of the medical system, we are focusing on preparing a couple of investment projects for the hospitals. The first two such hospitals to benefit from investment are in Bucharest. Then there will be another 3 regional hospitals, and another two or three by the end of the year. We also have a line of funding under the European Investment Plan to get these projects going. But, I repeat, we need continuity and transparency for such investments”.

During the debates, Dacian Ciolos recalled that this year the Government has increased the budget for research. He said he wanted to encourage highly qualified young Romanians to stay at home, to attract foreign researchers to invest in Romania and to persuade foreign businesses to develop their own centers for research, development and innovation in Romania.

In turn, EU vice-president Jyrki Katainen said it was essential that Romania should invest both in research and development, as well as in vocational education. Jyrki Katainen said the EU wants Romania to focus on research and development policies in the future, and to maintain its policy to foster vocational education, particularly the training of teachers. The EU official said the more well trained teachers Romania has, the more well-trained its population will be, arguing that teacher education should be of top quality. The Romanian Prime Minister and the European Commission vice-president also discussed about the need for transparency in projects carried out with EU funding.